Shall this Blog be a channel to express my thoughts to You, my friend.

Oct 14, 2012

Faith - No more

Last week I
decided that the time was right for me to depart from the Lutheran church. The
decision had come to me already many years ago but it took this long to be
permanently executed. In this text I will tell you the reasons behind this
relieving personal decision.

I consider myself
to be an open-minded and considering person. It has rarely been difficult for
me to accept the coexistence of religions, and I have encouraged people to get
to know those with different religious backgrounds. Don’t take me wrong, I
still believe that we should be tolerant to each other and try to live together
harmoniously and peacefully. And I continue believing that religions are not all bad.

The first and
foremost reason behind my departure was the lack of faith, which should be
obvious to those who know me even little. Faith is something I value as an interpersonal and a private, self-realizing meditative quality. God might or might not exist – and that´s about
all there is to say actually. I believe that people are entitled to religious freedom while having also an obligation not to demand religious
autocracy; in other words all religious beliefs should be coequal. Well, as we
all well know, this is not the case in today’s world.

Religions are now
and in the past used as excuses to justify inhumane actions of violence,
repression and tyranny. No religion is free from such a sick behavior which has
caused millions of people to lose their lives in the course of human history.
The Christians have forced people to wipe out their previous worldviews and
replace them with truths taken from the Bible. For example in times of Columbus
the Indian babies were killed after they had been baptized; this way they could
enjoy the eternal life in heaven. In medieval Europe witches and heretics were
hunt down by the holy inquisition, and ALWAYS the evidence against them was
fabricated out of thin air. This meant that every living person was in danger
to be named an opponent of God, and therefore be tested in order to find out
whether this claim was to be true or not. Usually tests were successful and
victims were found guilty – or dead.

Islam is no
better, actually it can even be worse – depends on how deep into details we go.
Things that we hear Muslims do to others and to themselves go many times beyond
our comprehension and imagination. Or can you really claim to be understanding
if some fanatic Muslims let young girls die in a burning house because they
deserved to die due to broken ancient dress code. It does not matter how
seriously people take themselves as Muslims if they continue to believe that everything
there is in Quran must have come from Allah. Islam has to undergo a radical inner
regeneration like all religions must. Otherwise these religions will eventually
vanish trying to attain global dominion. We all have to accept that religions
enable all forms of extremist activity. This fear has to be taken seriously by
everyone, not just those who fear for their artificial American lifestyles. Religions
breed negative side effects. Even those religions with millions of supporters
cannot be covered with shields of inviolability. They need to be open for a
serious debate.

The second reason
to my getaway is actually reason - or the lack of it. It is funny how people section their lives
into categories which are diversely managed. People trust in science and reason
when they see fit, and use judgment selectively. If I would say that Jesus
prepared my breakfast for today, I would be evaluated as a crazy person. Why?
Due to lack of evidence. I would have to show some kind of proof to prove my
point right. The same goes with claims that I make of reality. I cannot say
that there is a rabbit hole in my garden leading to some magical world if it doesn’t
exist. We cannot operate on false beliefs or otherwise all claims would be
beyond critical evaluation. If I would state that the world is flat, nobody
would believe me, but if the statement should point out that the world has been
created by God, no matter what shape or size it is, I would gather more than
enough supporters to make it official. When people enter the sacred area of
religion they forget their reason and leave it hanging till time comes to use
it once again.

Many elements (not
all) in religions and especially texts considered holy are nothing but myths. And
while there are those who consider these myths to be even partially true, we as
a one and only humankind will face never ending problems. Myths have proved out
to be irrational, disgusting and most importantly dangerous. Sometimes it feels
like some people have gotten stuck in ancient history. I always say to my
students how we need to understand people in their historical context. The
Presocratic-philosophers for example had no knowledge of the world whatsoever,
scientifically speaking. All they had was their reason and empirical affirmation
of that time. Keeping this mind we are able to understand why these intellects
thought that the world could be formed from substances like water or numbers.
They had no evidence to believe otherwise!

I believe that
Jesus lived and was a historical person with flesh and blood. I also believe
that he gave an example of how we should treat each other as human beings; love
and be loved. All extra added to this image of mine needs greater justifications
which would have to resemble facts more than wishes. That’s why I cannot say that Jesus was
more than a Jewish chap looking for a way to give people hope in times of
despair. We need more people like Jesus to show compassion and empathy, but
death is something we need to accept as a natural part of life. Death is
evident and concerns us all, we and all our loved-ones have to die eventually.
But that is the end of my journey – and yours. Between birth and death we all
should treat others with respect and friendliness. If religions cannot adapt to
this requirement, in my opinion they should be discarded as useless.

As long there are
myths with non-existing divine origin and religious followers who refuse to use
their reason and deny the utility of scientific method, wars and disharmony will
remain a present state. Religions concealing false truths also obstruct us from
building ethics that could have a real fundamental bearing for the future.

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About Me

Concerned world citizen who is worried about the world today, tries to be an all-around activist but so far without actual results. Curious spirit who likes to seek true knowledge and be able to contribute something to others. Sees himself as a philosophic weirdo who can still be friends with everyone.